Arrive home from work. Stash work computer. Put phone on charger. Turn on NPR. Power up Macbook Pro. Fill dishpan with hot soapy water and immerse lunch dishes and empty [recyclable] almond milk box. Change out of bizcaz into raggy old kw-type clothing. Wash feet. Pull hair back into ponytail. Fold laundry. Strap on a scuba diving tank or two and submerge… Doooowwwwn into the deep, dark, great grey-green greasy Limpopo-type depths of the Landfill Dungeon! Dun dun dun. Whoooo (or whaaaaat) is in the oooooubliette todaaaaay? Fling things until the air runs out. On a weekday, maybe five minutes. Come back up for air and to make dinner, etc.

Ka-whomp! A dumpster arrived next door today. For the third time since early summer. Our [beloved] elderly neighbors have moved out. The husband has died and his wife is in an assisted living facility. Their only living child is left to sort out over 50 years of collecting stuff in that house. That child lives and works in California so I know how difficult it is for him to get here. I am envious about the dumpster. The last time we had a dumpster here at the Landfill, it was after a tree landed on Mouse’s bedroom (she was in college at the time, thank you god or whatever that she wasn’t in her room). I could’ve probably thrown anything I wanted to into that dumpster but it was the first year of my current career and I didn’t have the psychological energy to sort stuff out and dump it at that time.

Boy oh boy, do I have it now. That flinging kind of energy. Please please please god-or-whoever don’t let me lose it just because I have posted this. I work on getting rid of stuff every weekend that we are here on The Planet. And… I am *trying* to spend a few minutes, even five minutes, down there every day before and/or after work. I am chiseling. But I am making progress. If I have stashed something for five (or more) years, that means I am not gonna use it again. Out. I am being ruthless with myself. It is time. I will be sticking around here for a loooonnng time but 1) I am not gonna keep stressing myself out with all kinds of stuff and collections of stuff that I don’t need and 2) I am not gonna leave my beautiful children with umpteen billion dumpsters full of crap to sort out when I do join all of those others.

Love you all,
KW

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 12th, 2011 at 5:49 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.